Albert Henry DeSalvo Trial: 1967

Bailey closed with an impassioned plea on DeSalvo's behalf. He wasn't asking for freedom for this "dangerous uncontrollable beast" indeed "DeSalvo wants society to be protected from him," but he demanded a verdict of insanity so that DeSalvo could receive proper treatment instead of being locked away.

Prosecutor Conn saw things quite differently. He saw DeSalvo as just one more cunning criminal who had feigned the symptoms of mental illness to avoid the consequences of his actions. He told the jury:

It's my duty to my wife, to your wife, to every woman who might conceivably be a victim of this man, to stamp his conduct for what it is—vicious, criminal conduct. Don't let this man con you right out of your shoes!

In his final charge to the jury, Judge Moynihan reminded them they were to purge all thoughts of the Boston Strangler from their minds and decide this case on its merits alone.

On January 18, 1967, they did just that, finding Albert DeSalvo sane and guilty on all 10 counts. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

To reporters later, Bailey commented, "Massachusetts has burned another witch. No fault of the jury's, of course. It's the fault of the law."

On February 24, 1967, Albert DeSalvo and two other inmates escaped from Bridgewater. Murderer Frederick E. Erickson, 40, and armed robber George W. Harrisson, 35, were recaptured that same day, but for 24 hours the city of Boston cringed, waiting for the Strangler to strike again. It didn't happen. The next day DeSalvo was arrested in a clothing store in Lynn, Massachusetts, claiming to have escaped only to draw attention to his case. Nervous authorities decided that in the future DeSalvo would be housed in the maximum-security Walpole State Prison.

Eight months later Albert DeSalvo received an additional 7-10 years for escaping. His brothers, Richard, 32, and Joseph, 37, were each given one-year suspended sentences for aiding in the escape.

On November 26, 1973, Albert DeSalvo was stabbed to death by another inmate at Walpole State Prison. His killer was never apprehended.

Despite his many confessions, Albert DeSalvo was never tried as the Boston Strangler. Some feel that he fabricated the whole story, relying on his contact with the actual killer (allegedly another Bridgewater inmate) for the details of the crimes. Oddly enough, none of the eyewitnesses who saw the Boston Strangler identified DeSalvo as the killer, but one fact is undeniable: Boston's reign of terror ended with the incarceration of this strange and troubled man.